Includes bibliographical references (p. [445]-504) and index

Thinking about social change in America -- Political participation -- Civic participation -- Religious participation -- Connections in the workplace -- Informal social connections -- Altruism, volunteering, and philanthropy -- Reciprocity, honesty, and trust -- Against the tide? : small groups, social movements, and the Net -- Pressures of time and money -- Mobility and sprawl -- Technology and mass media -- From generation to generation -- What killed civic engagement? : summing up -- Education and children's welfare -- Safe and productive neighborhoods -- Economic prosperity -- Health and happiness -- Democracy -- The dark side of social capital -- Lessons of history : the Gilded Age and the Progressive Era -- Toward an agenda for social capitalists

"Putnam's work shows how social bonds are the most powerful predictor of life satisfaction. For example, he reports that getting married is the equivalent of quadrupling your income and attending a club meeting regularly is the equivalent of doubling your income. The loss of social capital is felt in critical ways: Communities with less social capital have lower educational performance and more teen pregnancy, child suicide, low birth weight, and prenatal mortality. Social capital is also a strong predictor of crime rates and other measures of neighborhood quality of life, as it is of our health: In quantitative terms, if you both smoke and belong to no groups, it's a close call as to which is the riskier behavior."--BOOK JACKET

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